The latest expansion in the federal cabinet has raised many eyebrows.

At a time when the government is already facing criticism for not being able to ease the people’s burden, the induction of new ministers doesn’t make any sense. Second, this close to the general election such an extravagant step simply provides more ammunition to the opposition.

Even coalitions partners—PMLQ and ANP—have expressed their reservations over the sudden increase in the number of ministers at this point and time.

“What message are we sending to the people by adding 15 new ministers to the cabinet? The citizens are already on the roads protesting the shortage of electricity; inflation and an ever worsening security situation,” said a veteran PPP leader on the condition of anonymity.

But strategically, the cabinet expansion makes sense.

The PPP is ready to focus on the Punjab in view of the coming election. And the decision to appoint new ministers is part of its game plan. President Asif Ali Zardari has already started visiting the province with the same aim in mind.

Thirteen out of fifteen new ministers are from Punjab; the majority of them from central Punjab, a PML-N stronghold.

A PPP leader pointed out that “Politics is all about helping constituents get jobs, influencing the police and judiciary at the local level, which a minister with a flag on his car can do more effectively.”

Moreover, the PPP source argued how could the party ignore people such as Qamar Zaman Kaira, the party’s central information secretary, and Imtiaz Safdar Warriach, who heads the party in Punjab? But more that the positions they hold within the party, it is their constituencies that make them central to the PPP.

Kaira, who is from Gujrat, and Warriach, who is from Gujranwala, face tough competition from the opposition parties. Kaira defeated both the PML-N and PML-Q candidates in the Chaudhrys stronghold while Warriach also defeated both these parties’ candidates in the 2008 election. In fact, if one were to combine the votes of the two Muslim League factions in the 2008 election Kaira and Warriach polled less.

Nazar Mohammad Gondal who represents Mandi Bahauddin won his seat by less than 10,000 votes.

Similarly, Raja Pervez Asharf (Rawalpindi), and Tasneem Qureshi (Sargodha) are also people who won from areas dominated by other parties. Nawabzada Malik Ahmad Khan, who has been appointed state minister, is the only PPP candidate who won from the three contiguous districts of Mianwali, Khushab, and Bhakkar.

However, this logic does not seem to work for the selection of Raheela Baloch and Rana Mohammad Farooq Saeed Khan who were both elected from Faisalabad and were sworn in as state and federal minister respectively. Out of the 11 NA seats in district Faisalabad, six are with the ruling PPP. Probably, the district has been rewarded for putting up a good show in the last general elections and the party wants to improve its tally in next elections.

On the same pattern, Syed Sumsam Ali Bukhari, a PPP lawmaker from district Okara, has been brought back to the cabinet as minister of state. All five constituencies of district Okara have returned PPP candidates in the present National Assembly. Tasneem Qureshi of district Sargodha has also been re-appointed as state minister. In total, Sargodha district has five NA constituencies and two of them are currently with the ruling PPP.

But, this is not the only reason for the expansion. According to a senior PPP office-bearer, the party leadership had been under tremendous pressure for quite some time to allow in new ministers.

The PPP lawmaker added that Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nazar Mohammad Gondal, Imtiaz Safdar Warriach and Raja Pervez Ashraf had conveyed their unhappiness to the president at being removed from the cabinet. They made it clear that without having access to state patronage, they were being marginalized vis-à-vis their political opponents in their home constituencies. For instance, Kaira was particularly persuasive when he explained the problems he faced in his home town of Gujrat that boasted of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi as senior federal minister and Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain as federal minister.

And it was Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who finally convinced the president to bring all of them back to the cabinet. And as he is facing a contempt case these days which may lead to his disqualification, the president is willing to offer him some concessions. And some of the new cabinet members are seen to be close to him; they can be effectively called the prime minister’s men.

That the PPP is also working on its stronghold of South Punjab is also evident from the fact that two young lawmakers from further south have been inducted into the cabinet too: Mir Dost Mohammad Mazari from Rajanpur and Mohammad Moazam Ali Khan Jatoi of Muzaffargarh.

The cabinet already had a number of lawmakers from South Punjab, such as the prime minister himself; Hina Rabbani Khar (Muzaffargarh), Khawaja Sharaz Mehmood (DG Khan), Sardar Bahadur Khan Sihar (Layyah), Riaz Hussain Pirzada (Bahawalpur) and Makhdoom Shahabuddin (R.Y Khan). khawar.ghumman@gmail.com